Fear of water, hydrophobia: what are these types, causes, symptoms - how to overcome hydrophobia to adults and children?

Hydrophobia Today is one of the most common phobias. Fortunately, with proper treatment in most cases, such an ailment takes place.

Despite all the achievements of mankind, a person is still a vulnerable creature who is inherent to be afraid of certain things and states. To date, there are a huge number of phobias that somehow prevent people from living a full -fledged life. One of these phobias is the fear of water.

Fear of water: what is it?

• Fear of water has its own scientific name, which sounds like "Hydrophobia"or "Aquaphobia." It is worth noting that by hydrophobia it is customary to mean completely uncontrolled by a person, suddenly arising fear of water.
• At the same time, in different people, phobia can manifest themselves in different ways, for example, someone is afraid to swim in the river, someone to drink water, someone in water or even water temperature. Fear of water happens in children, as well as in adults.

Fear of water: species

Now let's deal with the types of fear of water. Among the main ones, the following can be distinguished:

• Batophobia. In simple words, this is a fear of depth. There are people who are not afraid of water as such, calmly enter the rivers and sea, swim where they see the bottom under them (or they know for sure that it is under them).
• However, such people should swim a little further than the shore, buoys, etc. And they begins a panic fear of depth, lack of bottom under their feet. This fear, like everyone else, can arise for various reasons, for example, a person could previously sink. This unequivocally crashes into memory and as soon as the situation becomes like the one that occurred earlier, a person begins to panic. By the way, it is because of panic and all-consuming fear in such cases that people are drowning, and not because of the inability to swim, etc.

• Potamophobia. This fear does not occur at the sight of “calm” water and manifests itself only if a person sees its stormy stream. Also, phobia is manifested at the sight of highly seething water, whirlpools, waterfalls, the strong course of the river, etc.
• Limnophobia. This fear arises at the sight of lakes, swamps and ponds, as well as from the realization that they can hide in their depths. Despite the fact that the water in these reservoirs is “calm”, it seems to a person with such a phobia that it is fraught with many terrible mysteries, up to the point that a person can believe in the bottom of some monster, etc.
• Most often, this fear is formed in early childhood, due to unsuccessful jokes, when they suddenly grab the legs in the water when the child falls out of the boat and experiences fear, etc.
• Talassophobia. Such a phobia is manifested in fear of marine and oceanic water. A man is afraid to swim in the sea, ocean, afraid of large waves in these reservoirs, afraid of sharks who can attack. Also, this phobia can manifest itself in fear of swimming on ships by sea, ocean.
• Psychrophobia. This is not just a fear of water, but a fear of cold water, as well as the cold in any manifestation of it.
• Abophobia. Another very specific phobia, which consists in fear of bathrooms, taking a bath, bathing, washing and washing. One way or another, people are frightened by contact with water. Most often, small children suffer from such a phobia, who constantly cry hysterically as soon as parents lower them into the water during bathing.
• Abophobia is considered one of the worst phobias, because people sometimes completely neglect personal hygiene because of their fear, as a result of which they get sick with various ailments.

You can also distinguish several "weather" phobias, which are also associated with the fear of water.

• Chionophobia. As it turns out, not everyone likes snowy weather, the favorite games of snowballs and the process of sculpting the snowman, there are those who are simply afraid of snow. People suffering from chionophobia are afraid of snow, snowfall, snowstorms, snowballs, are afraid to get stuck in a snowdrift, etc.
• Ombrophobia. This is a fear of rain. People with such a phobia are afraid to get into the rain, to be flooded due to the rain, etc.

Fear of water: causes of phobia

Do I need to deal with such a phobia? Of course, it is necessary, since this is not just the fact of the presence of some disorder, it is constant torment and restrictions. However, you need to fight not with the fear itself, but with the reasons that caused it.

Fear of water can occur for such reasons:

• Because of stress, experienced by a baby in childhood during bathing. This applies to more adult children and adults. Sometimes, due to inexperience, young parents do not correctly accustom children to bathing. They sharply lower them into the water, water water on the head, so that the child begins to think that he is suffocating, dipped under water, and the temperature of water is not correctly chosen. This is postponed in our subconscious and even if all these unpleasant sensations have survived at the age of 1 year, in conscious life they can manifest itself as hydrophobia
• A little less often, but it still happens that hydrophobia occurs due to the previously obtained burn from hot water, from boiling water. Despite the fact that the injury was received precisely from contact with hot water, a person may begin to be afraid of water in principle
• Most often, the fear of water occurs after a person he drowned. Each time, when a person who previously drowned, falls into a similar dangerous situation on the water, his mind is blurred, panic and hysteria begins. That is why people who once drowned very often do not even go into reservoirs.

• Also, the fear of water may appear due to the fact that the person saw how someone drowned, how someone drowned, he was pulled out of the water, but could not save him or after the man himself tried to save the drowned man, but could not be able . To overcome fear in this case, perhaps, the hardest thing
• Too explosive people They may begin to experience fear of water due to watches of films in which water disasters were shown, for example, strong floods, huge waves, shipwrecking, etc. The same applies to small children who are suspicious due to their age. Sometimes adults make a huge mistake, telling their children “interesting” fairy tales about water, various monsters and monsters that live in swamps, rivers and can harm people. Children, however, project these stories on their lives, after which they are naturally afraid to go into the water, swim, swim, etc.

• Well, and, of course, it is quite logical that the fear of water may appear due to the fact that a person he suffered from the elements. This applies to cases when a person survived the flood, when the “big” water destroyed his house, took the lives of his loved ones, etc.

Fear of water: how does phobia manifest in children, adults?

• A person who suffers from hydrophobia does not always experience fear and discomfort. Most often this happens only in case of contact with the stimulus - water.
• Someone in order for some signs of fear of water to appear, it is necessary to go into the water, someone just needs to see it, someone to think about it.

Most often, a person suffering from such a phobia manifests its following symptoms:

• The first and main sign of fear of water - avoiding contacts with reservoirs. A person constantly, sometimes even unconsciously, is looking for all kinds of reasons why he cannot go to the river, go to the sea, sign up to the pool, take a shower, etc.
• If we talk about the child, then fear manifests itself unwillingness to swim in the bathroom, constant crying during bathing, which is not justified. That is, in order to understand that this is precisely hydrophobia, the parent must exclude all the other factors that can provoke crying, for example, the child is sick and does not want to swim because of this, too hot or cold water, did not take their favorite toy into the bath, etc. . d.

• With direct contact with the stimulus, a person occurs panic attack. It is accompanied by the strongest dizziness, numbness of the arms, legs, shortness of breath, nausea, rapid heartbeat, feelings that the heart beats right in the mouth. A person experiencing a panic attack, often cannot be in one place, he has an obsessive desire to run somewhere, to do something, but what exactly, he does not understand. There may be a desire to go to the toilet, arms and legs can tremble.
• Also because of sharp increase in pressure a person can go from his nose with blood
• In the mouth can be felt dryness, “Flies, stars”, etc. can fly before my eyes.

Fear of water - how to overcome fear: methods of treatment for adults

• It seems to many people suffering from hydrophobia that it is simply impossible to overcome this fear. In fact, all the problems are only in our head and to recover from this phobia is possible. Another thing is that this process requires great desire, perseverance and perseverance. Also, a person must understand that the process is this time.
• It is worth noting that fear of water It can be either permanent or temporary, periodically arising. Depending on how negatively the presence of phobia affects human life, a way to get rid of it is selected.
• Most often, the treatment consists in the work “with the head”, personal experiences, stressful situations that took place in the patient's life. Medication is used quite rarely and more as additional therapy. In this case, the doctor may prescribe the patient sedativeswho will relax a person, calm his nervous system, eliminate the symptoms of panic attacks.
• The main work on the phobia is in the psychological impact on it. Please note that you need to eliminate not the phobia itself, but those reasons that provoked its appearance.

That is why work with a psychologist, a psychotherapist in this case gives the most positive results:

• First, the specialist finds out what provoked the appearance of fear of water, analyzes these reasons, and after that he chooses the most effective way to deal with them. And, of course, the methods of work are always individual, because what helps one well can be completely useless to others.
• Sometimes specialists resort to the method of "visualization". Initially, various pictures with a source of his fear are shown to a person, teach him to control his condition at the same time (calmly breathe, listen to the heartbeat, and adequately reason).
• After a person copes with this task, the therapist proceeds to the next stage, directly to contact with water. In this case, a person is taught to understand what specifically scares him, he pronounces all the sensations that he feels in contact with the stimulus, after he is taught to control himself in water, help get rid of panic and stress.
• Sometimes a person suffering from this phobia is offered write a list of all unpleasant and dangerous situations associated with water,who have ever been in his life. After that, it is worth considering each situation, analyze your condition at this time and your actions. Next, to understand what exactly you did not understand how exactly it was necessary to act. After that, you need to evaluate real risks in the situations, because often they simply do not have no. Some such introspection helps some well enough
• Experts also recommend that patients imagine themselves in the “exciting” situation (at a depth, in water, near large objects in water) and try to adjust their perception of the situation. Also at this time, it is important to work with phobia manifestations: tune breathing, trying to observe calm, etc.
• The most effective way to combat the phobia is considered hypnosis. Thanks to this impact on consciousness, the specialist finds out the true causes of fear, inspires his patient that in fact there is no real reason to be afraid of water, that water cannot harm him in any way.
• Such treatment helps the patient stop constantly thinking about his phobia, relieves him of fear, anxiety, panic and tantrums that he feels at the sight of a source of fear. Over time, a person begins to look differently at what used to cause him discomfort and fear, begins to see positive in a source of fear.

• In our case, the patient begins to understand that water can cause not only anxiety and troubles, but also pleasureThat you can enjoy, swimming, bathing in the water, it is great to spend time with friends by the river. Gradually, human thinking completely changes and phobia, as a rule, retreats

It should be understood that treatment with hypnosis is completely painless and safe.

• However, this is only about the case if we are talking about a highly qualified specialist, and not charlatans, who, to great regret, are a lot.
• Based on this, try to find a good specialist, read reviews about him and his work, evaluate the cost of services (the service of a qualified specialist is not cheap) and only after seek help

Fear of water: how to get rid of hydrophobia for children?

• It is important to clearly understand that you cannot ignore such a problem in no case. If your baby began to be afraid of water, then there are serious reasons for that. To begin with, you can try to find out on your own.
• Also, at the initial stage, you can try to independently save the child from this phobia.

In order to help the child say goodbye to the fear of water follow the following recommendations:

• To start exclude the annoying factor. That is, it is not necessary to bathe the baby by force, put him in the bath, combining it with moralizing and statements that this is completely not scary. You must understand that if earlier the baby bathed without problems and enjoy it, and now whimshes and crawls out of the water with a scream, which means that you have missed something and now this “something” has to be recognized.
• Try it catchly find out what scared the child. Perhaps someone scared him in the water, maybe he stumbled and drank a little water, frightened, maybe he heard from someone a story about the monster that lives in the bathroom, river, sea, and can eat it. There are a lot of options, but, as in the situation with an adult, before eradicating fear, you need to understand what provoked its appearance.

• Next, act on the situation, do not scold the baby for his fear, do not criticize, do not make fun of. First, tell us that there is nothing and nobody in the water who would have a danger to him, refer to the fact that the Imam's dad (any person authoritative for your child) is not afraid of water.
• Offer together to go into the water, do not pull the child to the depths. Show with a personal example that you are not afraid of water and get pleasure from bathing. Let the baby understand that you will always be next to him and, if necessary, help. Do not force something to do (dive, go deeper, etc.), if the child does not want.
• If possible, sign up for joint classes in the pool. There you can learn to swim together, play at the depths where the child is comfortable, plus in the pool clean and transparent water, and this is a calming factor for a child who has such a phobia.
• If a very tiny baby is afraid of water, try all turn the bathing procedure into a game. Take soap bubbles to the bath, a lot of toys to the river, distract the child with a game. Try to splash out, sprinkle, invite the child to pour you, while you, of course, must laugh so that the baby understands that this is not just not scary, but even fun.

• Also in the complex, help get rid of such fear can fairy tales. Read the child fairy tales about brave sailors and fishermen who were not afraid of water, helped others, etc. The main thing is that the fairy tales were kind, and there was no terrible plot with water in them
• If your attempts have not brought the desired result, be sure to contact specialists. Children's psychologists will be able to help you and your child solve this problem.
• Remember that first of all, you are responsible for the child, and because of his age, he will not always be able to ask for help and turn to where they will help him.

Why does the fear of water arise with rabies?

Many are surprised how, in principle, rabies and fear of water is connected? In fact, there is nothing in common between this disease and hydrophobia in the sense in which we perceive it is.

• With rabies, people are really very afraid of water. Moreover, they are so afraid that they can’t even take out her species, they cannot hear her dripping. The chambers in which people suffering from rabies are equipped in such a way that in no case do not bother the patient even with the thought of water.
• There are no washbasins and shells in such chambers, the heating system is disabled or works in such a way that you can not hear how the water is noisy. The dropper is wrapped in a cloth so that the patient does not see that he was introduced to the liquid and did not hear the slightest driving.
• The slightest contact with water brings the patient to the state terrible panic and hysteria. It becomes bad for a person, hallucinations may appear.

• Experts say that even a simple glass of water can lead to the fact that a person will begin to seizure, while spasms of larynx and pharynx can even lead to death.
• Why is this happening? Because the virus, which causes rabies, affects the core of one of the cranial nerves. At the same time, a person begins to perceive any annoying factors more sharply. Also in the brain there are the center of thirstwho is responsible for our desire to drink.
• During this disease, due to increased sensitivity to irritants, this center does not work correctly and any attempts by the patient to use water end in the occurrence of spasms of the upper respiratory tract. Actually this provokes suffocation patient.
• From all of the above, we can conclude that such hydrophobia does not need to be treated, since this does not make any sense. In this case hydrophobia (in combination with other characteristic manifestations of the disease) is a confirming the fact that a person is sick with rabies.

If you suffer from a fear of water, be sure to contact a specialist, after getting rid of phobia, your life will sparkle with new bright colors.

Video: How to overcome the fear of water?